If you've been a gamer long enough, you'll eventually run into the dreaded GameMaster's Girlfriend Syndrome. I'll have a longer post on it anon, but for now, I'm opening up the floor for other folks to share their stories.
I'll share a brief one of my own. I was dating a guy who bent over backward not to show me any favoritism in the game he was running. He took it so far in the opposite direction, however, that my character was ruined, and even the other players noticed and commented on it. That game lasted about three sessions because it simply wasn't any fun for me, constantly being nearly killed, having my transportation slagged the first session (with no way to replace it), weapons continually misfiring, allies who weren't.... and what's more, the experience pretty much killed my desire to ever play Shadowrun again.
I wasn't looking for special treatment, just equal treatment. But is that possible, when love is in the air? What do you all think? What have your experiences been?
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Actually, I dated a guy who was also a GM (We were together a long time actually) and it was just fine: no special treatment, but also no overt favoritism - he tended to be pretty lax about things anyway - he was firmly wed to the idea that games were intended to be fun, and when the rules weren't fun, you should do something to make that better (like sleaze rolls and the like). The best part was he'd occasionally do games just for me (ahem, no, really, *games*)
ReplyDeleteOn those rare occasions that guys I was with did the GMing, I didn't get either preferential treatment or worse treatment. I'm guessing that's kind of rare.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that lokraashgadol and Miranda are fortunate. Though in my current game, I don't *think* my husband shows me much, if any, favoritism. Maybe it's something that comes with maturity? If you two don't mind, what ages were the guys you were gaming with? Most of our current group is early 40s.
ReplyDeleteI've seen it both ways. In my current game, my husband is the GM. He's pretty even about how things affect all the players. Occassionally he'll have a night when he picks on me a bit more than the others, but not enough to really stand out.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, I had a game in college that was sooo freakin' annoying. My best friend was the GM's girlfriend and she got her way on *everything*. The GM went out of his way to neutralize any bonuses my character could get b/c it meant her character didn't look as good if I had them. He even changed the core rules on XP b/c I would have gotten an xp bonus and she wouldn't. :eyeroll:
-J
@Sci-Fi Gamer Chick:
ReplyDeleteWe were in high school (we stayed together for most of college too, but we weren't gaming much by then, we'd moved on to Medieval re-creation, which he still does lo these many years later).
Back when I was in college (early 20s) I was with a group of people that gamed once or twice a week (a little too much-my grades showed it for a time). We mainly played AD&D & White Wolf. We did a lot of live-action role playing as well, but the favoritism in that game was rampant for many reasons (people who supplied drugs & alcohol, place to crash, free rides, etc.). At first, the GM's wife was shown heavy favoritism on rolls and loot. But it got old, quick. So everyone (except the GM of course) started calling her precious and honey-bear. Eventually the GM started turning on her as well, to the point that it had the opposite effect. All kinds of bad $&%* started happening to her. It was all fun and games at first (no pun intended). But she changed her playing style to be evil and sadistic, getting the party into even more trouble - taunting the GM to make bad *&%# happen. And he did, and eventually the party was wiped. The GM stopped running games, his wife slept with all of his friends, and they got divorced a few years later. I'm not sure what the lesson to be learned is. ;)
ReplyDeleteToodles...